CFP Board Candidate Open Forum

  • 1.  Taking exam in March- Wondering if anyone had issues with the amount of time given for the exam. Do test takers often run out of time?

    Posted 01-29-2023 09:13
    I tend to be a slow test taker and am worried about running out of time.

    ------------------------------
    Gabriella Delmonaco
    Assistant Financial Advisor
    Toler Financial Group
    Silver Spring MD
    (914)329-2114
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Taking exam in March- Wondering if anyone had issues with the amount of time given for the exam. Do test takers often run out of time?

    Posted 01-30-2023 01:36
    This is a real possibility.  You do not want to leave questions unanswered.  I closely monitored the time 

    Regards,
    Rob Rea, CFP®, MBA





  • 3.  RE: Taking exam in March- Wondering if anyone had issues with the amount of time given for the exam. Do test takers often run out of time?

    Posted 01-30-2023 10:19
    Passed in November and I spent too long on a few questions in the first section so I was scrambling a bit more than I'd like. You have to be cognizant of how much time to spend per question and how much time you've spent/have left. 

    One tip that helped me was to save the case study questions for last so you get through the simpler questions first and then you know you have time to dedicate to them, the calculations, etc.

    ------------------------------
    Jason Peck
    Financial Advisor
    Raymond James
    Raleigh NC
    (919)784-8309
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: Taking exam in March- Wondering if anyone had issues with the amount of time given for the exam. Do test takers often run out of time?

    Posted 01-30-2023 11:15
    Edited by Donald Schneider 01-30-2023 11:18
    Gabriella Delmonaco,

    One suggestion I received; use a 20 and 2 method.  Give yourself 20 seconds to determine if you can answer the question in 2 minutes or less.  If yes stick with it.  If no, answer C (If in doubt "Charlie" cut gives you a 25% on all guesses), mark the question for review and move on.  Then at the end of that 42 or 43 question section review the marked questions before moving on to the next section.

    Also, use the CFP Practice Exam(s) as a way to learn proper pace for test day.  This helped me a lot.  I used 95% or more of my testing time.


    ------------------------------
    Donald Schneider
    Senior Wealth Strategist
    Edward Jones
    Saint Charles MO
    (314)515-8175
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: Taking exam in March- Wondering if anyone had issues with the amount of time given for the exam. Do test takers often run out of time?

    Posted 01-30-2023 19:46
    Hi Gabriella,

    I haven't heard of many people running out of time but I am a slow test taker and was worried about this when preparing for my exam in November. Taking the first full length Board Mock Exam about 4 weeks prior was helpful in assessing my speed... and I definitely needed to pick up the pace! I realized a few things that helped:
    1. I was spending too much time on questions I didn't know.
    2. It helped to use the highlight, strikeout, and search features, especially within the cases
    3. There was gold in the footnotes of the case narratives and some of the answers to the questions would be in multiple places within the case. It was easier for me to quickly browse the narrative for key info, get to the questions and then go back with a laser focus on the information I was looking for within the case.

    I worked on my timing for every practice quiz in the review material and by the time I took the second Board Mock Exam (about a week before) I felt more comfortable with my pace. For the actual exam, I took most of the time in each section but didn't feel rushed. One note is to remember that some review programs tend to have longer questions than on the actual exam.  Per the CFP Board, the length of the questions are as follows:
    1. Stand-alone Questions: 2-3 sentences long
    2. Short Scenario Questions: 3 questions per scenario
    3. Case Study Questions:  Case covers several pages, and typically 8-12 questions per case study
    More info here: https://www.cfp.net/get-certified/certification-process/exam-requirement/about-the-cfp-exam/exam-format

    For me, the best gauge for timing were the full length CFP Board Mock exams.


    -Jackie

    ------------------------------
    Jackie Cummings Koski, MSPFP, CFP®, AFC®
    Financial Educator & Consultant
    Linktr.ee/moneyletters
    Linkedin.com/in/jackiecummingskoski
    ------------------------------



  • 6.  RE: Taking exam in March- Wondering if anyone had issues with the amount of time given for the exam. Do test takers often run out of time?

    Posted 01-31-2023 11:35
    Hi Gabriella,

    I answered this question in a different thread so I'll link it instead of repeating it. The key is to pick your best answer relatively quickly and move on to make sure every question gets answered with your best guess. But "mark" the ones you aren't sure about; I marked something like 30% of them. By not fixating too long on single problems, you won't stress about not finishing and you'll leave yourself time to go back and work on the ones that need it.
    https://candidateforum.cfp.net/discussion/running-out-of-time-during-the-exam

    ------------------------------
    Aaron A. Anderson, CFP®, CFA, EA
    Partner
    DFS Advisors, LLC
    Mooresville, NC
    https://www.dfs-advisors.com
    980-444-0330
    ------------------------------